chadnycity

My wife and I are going to Paris in May for 6 days and we've narrowed our hotels down to:
Le Petit Paris, Victoria Palace or Le Six Hotel.

We're hoping that someone on this wonderful forum has stayed in one of these three hotels and could opine. We're wondering in particular about location and friendliness of staff. The intent of our trip is to relax, go to cafes, restaurants and see a couple of museums, we're not wanting to run all over the City because we plan to go back another time. Having said that all three of these seem a bit far from the center of things and we don't want to take cabs everywhere or always have to jump on subway..

We've also considered Villa Madame, Academie des Artiste and Odeon St. Germain but prefer the other three.

We really appreciate any guidance.
-Chad

cathies

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ank-thread.cfm

This might help, I'm not sure if the hotels you mentioned are included, but this is very comprehensive and was put together by Fodor's travellers who have stayed in them. I think it's definitely worth finding a hotel that is in the centre so that you can stroll to the things you do want to see. Don't forget to catch a bus occasionally. It's a great way to see the city, rather than being stuck underground. The buses have the stops on the side of the bus and the bus route is on the wall inside the bus stops. You can use the same ticket for the metro and buses. I hope you have a lovely time in my favourite city!

Michel_Paris

I would not consider any of your choices remote (2nd and 6th). They are all in Central Paris, and with good Metro and RER connections, none are 'bad'.

Le Petit Paris is near Jardin de Luxembourg. Good for RER access to Airport. Monge metro station would give you good access to Right Bank sites.

Victoria Palace looks like a good location in the 2nd. Not too far a walk to Louvre and that area.

Le Six is a bit deeper into the 6th, near Montparnasse.

I'd rank Victoria (by a hair), then Petit, then Six.

jpie

I can only speak to location not the hotels themselves.

Basically the first one Le Petit Paris 214 RUE SAINT JACQUES 75005 PARIS is closer to the river than the other 2, which is where most folks prefer to be. It is close to the Sorbonne and closer walking distance to the RER B that runs from the airport if that is a consideration.

The last two are closer to Montparnasse and the Victoria Palace is just off the rue de Rennes which is a nice shopping street. All the locations are good, although again, many visitors might prefer to closer up to the river more in the heart of the Latin Quarter than where the last two choices are.

chadnycity

Thanks for the public transport tip and the link. The thread doesn't seem to include any of these three. They're near the Jardin du Luxembourg in 6e. Is that too far off?

jpie

Michel-I show the Victoria Palace at 6, rue Blaise Desgoffe 75006 Paris near rue de Rennes. However, Google oddly enough on the search page shows it near the Bourse in 2nd but with the correct address in the 6th-so something screwy there....

So chadnycity if it is this hotel then it is very close to Le Six Hotel near Montparnasse

http://www.victoriapalace.com

chadnycity

i wonder if it's a bad sign that I can't seem to find any of these three mentioned in any thread on Fodors. They're moderately priced. Should I be concerned?

Michel_Paris

I've never heard of them. What does Trip Advisor have as reviews? And, for educational purpose, where did you find these?

chadnycity

yes jpie that's the Victoria I was thinking of.

chadnycity

Trip Advisor has Le Petit Paris as number 8 in popularity. I actually found them while browsing reviews on booking.com while looking at another hotel--D'Aubusson (a bit too pricey for me).

chadnycity

They all scored 4.5/5 on Tripadvisor and 8.8-9 on booking.com

jpie

They all look very nice-just curious, chad-is this a first trip for you to Paris? If so you may like being closer to the river rather further back as these hotels are-just to walk along the Seine, get very easily to either side etc.. Also I forgot to mention that the area around Le Petit Paris can be a bit hilly if that makes a difference. But all three of these hotels are in very nice sections of Paris. If you stay along the number 4 metro line in the 6th you will easily be able to get anywhere from the Latin Quarter to central Paris. If you have been to Paris before then you might enjoy staying down closer to Montparnasse-it is a great area with good shopping etc.

chadnycity

I was previously in Paris for only a couple of nights and my wife has never been there. Your suggestion that perhaps we should be closer to the river strikes right at the heart of my concern. I just can't seem to find a hotel that's as nice as these closer to the river for the price of these E240/night. This is not typical hotel spend for me, but I realize that you get what you pay for. Can you suggest one?

Michel_Paris

At E240 range look at Ile St Louis..verrry prime location. Lutece is one nice one...Jeu de Paume another. 1/2 block to Seine

jpie

Hi Chad-at that price point-you will find something nice. I am running-but will post some others in the AM.

jpie

hi chad-I think both of Michel's suggestions are good ones. Here are a couple of others to think about as well that would keep you down close to the Seine:

This is a very small 10 room place right on the quai facing Notre Dame, so very central-it is the 5th but the far west end of it so really a stones' throw from Place St. Michel, Notre Dame etc.

Hotel les rives de Notre Dames
15, Quai Saint Michel, 75005 Paris, France
http://www.rivesdenotredame.com/

I you are open to being on the other side of the river then I would consider the Hotel Du Louvre. It is much more a traditional larger hotel, but the location is really great-across from the Louvre and next to the Palais Royale, and just across the river basically from St. Germain-easy bus and metro everywhere.

Hotel Du Louvre
Place André Malraux, 75001 Paris, France
http://www.hoteldulouvre.com/en/?

Also I don't know what time of year you will be there-but if it will be summer-I would want air conditioning as much for the noise as the cool, so you might consider that as you look around.

Another place (3 star versus 4 star) near Odeon that is nice and I know they have air conditioned rooms:

The Hotel Fleurie
32 Rue Grégoire de Tours
75006 PARIS, France
01 53 73 70 00
www.hotel-de-fleurie.fr

Hope these all help-I will be excited to hear where you decide

Christina

I've heard of two of them, the Victoria Palace has been around quite a while. Le Six is some new modern, expensive place as I recall. Never heard of the other one, but that's because it's a new hotel and used to be something else -- it's kind of famous, it was the hotel where Jim Morrison died and used to be a real cheap dump (l'Hotel de Medicis). I haven't heard from anyone whose stayed there since it has reopened under this name, but if you like that decor, the location is excellent.

The hotels you chose are very different, Victoria Palace is traditional frilly decor, Petit is very modern. I am not crazy about the stree the Victoria Palace is on, to be honest. It's near the FNAC and the post office, as I recall, and is convenient enough to public transport (metro and bus) but not that attractive.

If you like modern decor, I would choose le Six or Petit Paris over Victoria Palace which I don't care for as much for location (there is nothing wrong with it, just prefer the others) and I don't like that style. It could be perfectly fine in comfort, I imagine it is. I often stay near Le Six, but I really like Montparnasse. there are lots of good restaurants around there, cinema, and transportation.

I would much prefer the hotels you picked to a place near the Seine.

chadnycity

Thanks everyone. We looked at all the hotels posted. We're leaning toward Le Petit Paris based on trip advisor ratings. We're worried about the location though. Address is 214 rue Saint Jacques, does anyone know what's around it?

jubilada

Chadnycity:
have you looked at Google Maps?
Also, IMO using rankings or stars to parse reviews on TA is not as helpful as reading carefully what people say, throwing out the high and low opinions.

Christina

Why are you worried about the location of 214 rue St Jacques? It's right near the Pantheon (about two blocks south), and just a couple blocks east of the RER Luxembourg stop. It's a busy central part of Paris, there are food shops, bookstores as it is near the Sorbonne, restaurants, etc. It's in a block with a bunch of small shops and small restaurants. It's at the end of rue Royer COllard pertty much, which goes directly to bd St Michel and the RER stop. It's fairly near a couple schools, also (other than the Sorbonne, which is really about 3-4 blocks north). It's right near rue Gay Lussac, which has a bus running along it which is convenient (if you want to go to rue Mouffetard area anyway, although you could walk. The bus goes up bd St Michel and crosses the river to go to the Opera. There are also lots of bus choices at the end of rue Soufflot (Luxembourg Gardens) that go various places.

All of these hotels ARE central Paris, you couldn't hardly get more central than around the Pantheon. These are just as or probably more central than around the Opera IMO, I just don't understand a lot of these comments.

What exactly are you worried about? At least the area around 214 rue St Jacques isn't the tourist congestion of around the Seine.

I wouldn't choose based on TA ratings too much, although I do always look at them. I'm just surprised there are so many reviews as the place hasn't been open that long, but as I said, some people would like the historic cache of staying there (if they were Doors fans, I suppose). It's just a small typical French hotel that has been renovated. At least with that many reviews, you get a good average opinion.